


TLC Ship Weeks 2018

by Cait_11



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: F/M, Other, The Lunar Chronicles Ship Weeks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-01 23:20:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13305498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cait_11/pseuds/Cait_11
Summary: A collection of my works for TLC Ship Weeks 2018.





	1. Detectives (Winter x Jacin)

Winter and Jacin stepped forward as the woman gestured to them, beckoning for them to come forward. Winter gave her a warm smile and shook her hand, while Jacin just shook her hand.

 

“Thank you, detectives, for coming here to help us out,” the woman greeted. “We heard you two were some of the best private investigators in the world. We were hoping that you might be able to help us because we certainly aren’t getting anywhere.”

 

“Of course,” said Winter, shoving her hands into the pockets of her long, dark coat. “The man I spoke to over the phone didn’t give many details about what’s going on, so I was hoping you could fill us in.”

 

The woman didn’t say anything at first. She motioned for Winter and Jacin to follow her as she turned towards a door. When the three of them passed through the doorway, they saw a motionless figure sprawled out on the ground, obviously dead. Jacin headed towards the man, squatting down by their side, observing who their were on the surface. 

 

“It’s a dead body,” Jacin said dryly, turning his face towards the woman, one eyebrow raised. “What’s so special about that?”

 

“Jacin,” Winter said, not particularly forceful. She just wanted him to show some respect, at least for once in his lifetime. 

 

The woman seemed to ignore Jacin, turning instead towards Winter as she provided an explanation. “If this was just a simple, one-person killing, then we wouldn’t have called you two in for help. But, unfortunately, a lot of people have been turning up dead lately, and all of the bodies have been left the same way.” She waved her hand towards the body, and Winter turned her attention towards it. “All positioned the same way, all with X’s on their chests and wrists.”

 

“Hm,” said Winter thoughtfully, squatting down beside Jacin. She picked up one of the man’s wrists and observed the angry red X on it. She looked at his other wrist, taking in the matching mark, then also checked out the one on his chest, the same as the wrist markings, just larger. 

 

“Well,” the woman started, taking a few steps backwards, towards the door, “I’ll leave you two alone for a bit so you can check this out.” 

 

Winter was about to turn back thank the woman, or say goodbye to her, but the click of heels against the floor and the sound of a door closing told her that she was already gone. Winter turned back to the man, running her gaze up and down his body, trying to see if anything unusual was going to jump out at her. Other than the matching cuts on the chest and wrists, nothing about the body seemed the be unusual. 

 

“Do you think we should check out the other victims?” Winter asked, turning her gaze from the man to Jacin. 

 

“Yeah,” Jacin responded, bracing his hands on his knees and standing up. “We should probably go.”

 

“Sure,” Winter said. “Buy just one second. I want to take pictures real quick.” She took out her phone a took pictures of the X’s, the body, and the scene. She slipped her phone back into her pocket and turned around. “All right. Let’s go.”

 

She and Jacin headed out, ready to go solve another crime together. 


	2. Bittersweet (Winter x Jacin)

Winter glided through the halls of Astemisia Palace, the heels of her white shoes clicking against the reflective ground. She mindlessly twisted the simple, silver ring around on her finger, the one that Jacin had given her... before. Just before. 

 

She made her way through the building, only stopping to reply to anyone who said hello to her out of politeness. When she finally made it outside, she crossed the short expanse of grass to a special spot she kept visiting every day. Whenever a guard saw she was heading out the door right by this spot, they knew to leave her alone. 

 

Winter took a deep breath, inhaling through her nose and exhaling through her mouth. She touched her ring one last time before dropping her hand to the side, determined not to be distracted by it this time. 

 

“I remember us playing together when we were little,” Winter started to say, her voice clear. “We were such good friends. I’m convinced that we knew we were going to eventually end up together one day, hopelessly in love. You even tried to kiss me once; that seems like it was forever ago, in another century. How can it be that that was just ten years ago?” She laughed a little and tilted her head back, smiling up at the sky. “Stars, I love you so much.” Her voice broke on the last word, and she reached up and wiped at her eyes, getting rid of the tears before they streaked down her face. “I wish you were here to listen to this. Our wedding vows. I was planning on saying this, and so much more, on the night of our wedding.”

 

Winter finally allowed herself to look down at the cool grey stone in the ground, engraved with words she had so carefully chosen for it.

 

“I love you, Jacin,” she cried, wiping her face again. She dried her hands on her skirt, not caring that she was probably ruining it. “I love you so much. I wish you’d come back.”

 

She heard a rustling sound behind her and looked back quickly to see a guard trying to come near her. Another guard with blonde hair laid a hand on his chest and held him back, making sure that he knew that they weren’t supposed to go near her when she was out here, for the sake of her privacy. For a second, Winter could see Jacin, wearing a uniform just like the one the guards were wearing.

 

She turned back around and looked down again at the grave, remembering just how Jacin died. He was protecting her and Selene. Cinder, Winter had to remind herself, not Selene. Someone, she didn’t even know who, had stabbed him in the stomach, and he died there, right in Winter’s arms, his last words, “I love you…”

 

“Jacin…” Winter breathed out sadly, sinking to her knees.


	3. Aviator (Cress x Thorne)

Ten-year-old Cress laid down in the grass, arms spread wide, face turned toward the sky. Thorne, just a year older than Cress, padded over to her and laid down next to her, looking up at the world above them. 

 

“I want to be there someday,” Thorne said suddenly, completely out of the blue.

 

“What?” Cress asked, sitting up a bit and leaning back on her elbows. “What do you even mean by that?”

 

Thorne laughed, shaking his head. “I think I want to be an aviator. Fly planes. That kind of thing.”

 

“That’s interesting…” Cress mused. “But what’s so cool about being up in the sky all the time? It would probably be terrifying to be up there, don’t you think?”

 

“Maybe.” Thorne shrugged. “But I think I could deal with it.”

 

“Are you sure you could pass the tests?” Cress joked, laying back down on the ground, flat on her back.

 

Thorne looked towards her and shook his head, chuckling. “Have you no faith in me?”

 

“Actually, I really do think you could do it,” Cress finally told him. She didn’t realize how her hand had been slowly inching its way towards Thorne’s. It surprised her when she felt Thorne take it in her hand. They had been best friends for years, but she had never really thought of them in  _ that  _ way before that moment. Looking back on it, she could see the signs from the past year, but she didn’t want to think of that now.

 

“Thank you, Cress,” Thorne said, beaming. He rested their linked hands on his stomach. “How about you? Ever think about what you wanna do?”

 

“Actually,” Cress started, “I have. It’ll definitely be something with computers. Probably coding.”

 

“Sweet! You could code a cool program I can use in my airplane!” 

 

Cress shook her head a little. “Sure. Why not.”

 

“Great!”

 

The two of them returned to staring at the sky, this time thinking of their futures, which they would hopefully be able to spend together. 


	4. Photograph (Cress x Thorne)

Cress set the camera in its bag and slung it over her shoulder before jogging over to Thorne, who had wandered down the beach, making his way to the ocean. She halted next to where he had stopped and started to grab her camera, but decided against it, just for a moment.

 

“Hey, Cress,” Thorne said, smiling as he turned his gaze from the open sea to Cress. “Doesn’t it look really nice out here?”

 

“It does,” Cress replied, grinning. She began to reach for her camera, but Thorne reached out and laced their fingers together, stopping her from getting her camera. “Hey!” she protested.

 

“Sorry, but I think you should enjoy the beauty of this place without having to look at it through a tiny, two-inch screen.”

 

Cress frowned, arms crossed over her chest, but she understood what Thorne was talking about. Normally, when the two of them went to some cool place like this, Cress spent most of the time taking pictures instead of simply just enjoying it for what it was.

 

“Come on,” Thorne said, reaching out towards Cress. She took his hands and he dragged her after him, walking,  _ running _ , along the shore, through the sand.

 

Cress let go of Thorne for a few seconds, took off her shoes, and set her camera bag on the ground, far enough away that they wouldn’t get washed away with the tides. She waded into the water until she was ankle deep in it, letting the water wash over her legs and feet. She laughed and spun around in circles, the water splashing on her up to her thighs.

 

“Thorne! Come on!” she called.

 

“One second,” was his response, and he sounded a little distracted.

 

Cress looked up to see that Thorne had her camera, and he was taking pictures of her. Cress’s eyes widened in surprise as she saw the lens focus on her.

 

“Cress!” Thorne protested, noticing how Cress was now staring directly at the camera. “You ruined the shot!”

 

“Sorry,” Cress murmured. “I’m not used to being to one photographed.” She went back to spinning around, not caring that the salty ocean water was getting on her dress, weighing the skirt down a bit.

 

Soon, Cress felt a pair of hands grasp her waist, pick her up, and swing her around. 

 

“Hey,” Cress said, smiling and looking down at Thorne. “I thought you were taking pictures of me.”

 

“I was,” Thorne started, “but it turned out that it’s kind of boring. You don’t really get to participate in what you’re taking a picture of. Like playing in the ocean.”

 

Cress smiles again. “You best have at least put my camera away before you came out here.”

 

“Of course I did,” Thorne responded. “Do you really think that I wouldn’t have done that?”

 

Cress rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I kind of want to look at the photos you took.” Thorne set her down and she made her way back to shore, sitting down in the sand next to her camera and shoes. She wiped her hands on Thorne’s discarded jacket before grabbing her camera.

 

As she began to flip through the photos, she felt Thorne sit down beside her, wrapping his jacket around her shoulders and leaning on her. Cress settled her head on his shoulder.

 

“These photos are pretty good, especially considering that you’ve never studied photography before,” Cress said, somehow making the statement into a compliment.

 

“Thanks,” Thorne replied, wrapping an arm around Cress’s shoulders and pulling her closer.

 

They sat there until the sunset took over the entire sky, taking pictures of the landscapes, the sky, and of themselves, sharing quiet moments together.


	5. Band (Free)

Cinder looked out at the band in front of her from her perch on the podium, all of them setting up for a run of their entire program. Once she noticed that they were all ready, and after the director gave her a signal, she raised her hands, ready to conduct. 

 

Below her, the band began to move, marching from set to set. They played through their show music, and Cinder listened to it, making sure that they were playing in time. She gave a few dirty looks towards sections that were dragging, and then towards some that were playing a little too fast. 

 

As she looked out across the field, her eyes latched onto some of her friends. She saw Kai standing at the front of the field with the pit, playing the marimba. Her eyes moved back a bit, where Cress, playing the flute, and Winter, playing the piccolo, marched across the front of the field. They were followed by some clarinets, one of them being Iko. 

 

When the band stopped moving because of a halt in the drill, she took the chance to check out what the rest of the band was doing, make sure they were in the right spots. She knew the band director did that, but she liked to double check sometimes. Jacin, on alto sax, and Kinney, on tenor sax, looked to be in the right spots. She sure hoped so, too, because they were section leaders and should be setting a good example for the rest of their sections. She turned her glance towards the other half of the field, where she could barely make out Scarlet glaring at Thorne around the bell of her baritone horn. 

 

Cinder sighed as she looked at Thorne. She didn’t know where his spot exactly was, but she could tell that he was definitely in the wrong spot because the formation looked a little weird. She rolled her eyes and continued conducting.

 

When they finished the run through of the show and Cinder cut the band off, the band director took over from there. 

 

“Okay,” the director called out. “I was going to ask you guys to do that again, but I’m feeling generous today. Aside from a few minor hiccups in the trumpet section—” he glared down at Thorne— “and a bass drum that tripped over a drill book that some idiot left in the middle of the field—” he looked at Wolf with sympathy— “that was pretty good. Feel free to take a water break.”

 

Cinder sighed in relief as she climbed down from the podium and grabbed her water bottle, taking a swig from it and climbing back up to the top of the podium. She set her water bottle on the corner of the podium and watched the rest of the band hurriedly run for water. She saw Thorne run across the field and almost trip a bunch of people. He actually got tripped himself because Scarlet stuck her foot out so he would fall. 

 

About a minute later, the director called the band back to the field, telling them to set the top of the second movement. When they were set, Cinder called them to attention, counted off, and started setting the metronome. 


	6. Lunar Ball (Free)

Lights swirled around above her head as Iko lifted her skirts and descended the grand staircase. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and stood next to her friends. They were all waiting for Cinder and Kai to make their grand entrance, per the request of one of the royal officials. Cinder hadn’t seemed too happy about it, but Kai, in a successful attempt to convince her, told her that most royals did that.

 

The crowd cheered as Cinder and Kai made their way down the silver, winding staircase, holding hands. Cinder was holding her skirts up with her other hand so she wouldn’t trip, and Kai had a wide smile on his face as he waved at the spectators. When they reached the ballroom floor, their friends embraced them and dragged them out onto the dance floor. 

 

Around them, people began to dance as the band started playing a fun, upbeat song. Cinder and Kai kept close to one another as they danced. 

 

Soon, Cress and Thorne were leading all of the attendees in a dance. The dancers linked hands as they made multiple circles on the dance floor, stepping in time as they spun in the circles. 

 

Iko broke away from the group and made her way across the room. “Hey,” she said to a man standing on the side of the room. “Would you want to dance with me?”

 

The man shrugged. “Sure. Why not?” He took her hand and lead her onto the floor. They both linked hands with the people around them and joined in on the dance that everyone in the room was taking part in.

 

When the song was over, the man left, claiming that he didn’t feel well and wanted to leave. Iko stared after him as he left the room, not quite sure he was telling the truth. She sighed and turned back to the floor, trying to find some of her friends. 

 

“Hey, Winter. Hey, Jacin,” Iko said brightly, smiling, trying to cover up her disappointment. “Are you guys all right if I hang out her and dance?”

 

“Of course!” Winter exclaimed. 

 

The music started up again, another upbeat song meant for groups to dance to instead of just couples. The three of them started to dance, and soon Scarlet, Wolf, Cress, and Thorne came over and joined them. 

 

Several hours later, the ball was almost over. Cinder was over by the refreshments table, picking up a pastry and taking a bite out of it. Kai walked up to her and took piece of the same pastry from the table.

 

“Are these good?” Kai asked, holding the pastry up.

 

Cinder swallowed the bite she was chewing. “Yeah,” she answered, smiling. “They’re  _ really _ good!”

 

Kai nodded and popped the pastry in his mouth, chewing and swallowing it. He smiled. “You were right.”

 

Cinder was about to respond, but one of the guests walked up to the two of them instead of leaving like everyone else was.

 

“Sorry,” the guest said to Cinder, a little bit of panic on her face, “but I just wanted to personally thank you for being our new queen. Levana was… Levana. I don’t know how else to say it.”

 

“Oh!” Cinder replied, surprised. “Uh, you’re welcome. And thank you, also, for the kind words.”

 

“You’re welcome!” The guest gave a smile to Cinder and Kai, then started to run out of the room. She looked back once to wave back at them, and then she was out the door.

 

Cinder sighed as their group walked up to them, exhausted. She leaned against Kai, and them all of them left the room, content that one more grand ball was over with.

 


	7. Fairy Tale (Free)

Cinder stared at the clock, just outside the palace windows. It was eleven-thirty. She still had some time. 

 

“Hello,” Cinder heard from behind her. She spun around and saw the prince standing there, hand outstretched. “Would you like to dance?”

 

Cinder hesitated for a second before taking Prince Kai’s outstretched hand. “I would love to,” she responded, trying to sound like she wasn’t freaking out. 

 

Kai bent down to press a kiss to her knuckles before leading her out to the dance floor. They swayed around for a bit, but then Kai began to lead her in a waltz-like dance that Cinder didn’t know the steps to. She smiled a Kai, but she was just trying to hide her pain. She was trying not to trip over her silver skirts that were swaying around her ankles, just waiting to be stepped on by herself, Kai, or any other dancer in the room. 

 

All of a sudden, a sound not unlike a clock sounded throughout the room. Cinder glanced up at the clock, and once she registered what it said, her eyes widened. 

 

“I’m sorry!” Cinder said frantically, letting go of Kai. “I have to go!” She gathered up her skirts and ran out the door, down the marble staircase. She felt her left shoe fall off and she heard Kai yelling after her, but she didn’t care. It was midnight, and she had to leave. 

 

She ran until she collapsed behind a bush, her beautiful dress turning into her ratty clothing. She was surprised to see that the shoe she hadn’t lost on the palace steps was still the same.

 

She sighed and laid back. She tried to close her eyes, but all of a sudden a face was looming above her. 

 

“Good,” said Iko, her fairy godmother. “You made it out of there in time.”

 

Cinder glared up at Iko’s face, framed with bright, blue hair. “Why did it have to be that way?”

 

“What do you mean?” Iko asked, sitting down and pulling Cinder up into a sitting position. 

 

“Why did the spell have to end before midnight? I would’ve stayed there for a lot longer, but the spell stopped that from happening.” Cinder sighed deeply. “I was dancing with the prince. The  _ prince _ , Iko! And now he doesn’t even know my name!”

 

An apologetic look crossed Iko’s face. “Look… I’m sorry, Cinder. It wasn’t my decision to have you leave by midnight. The spell only lasted until midnight, so unless you wanted to wear  _ that  _ in front of the prince, you should thank me.” Her apologetic look left her face, and she crossed her arms over her chest, pointedly looking at Cinder.

 

“All right, fine,” Cinder answered. She stood up and brushed off her dress, even though the dirt covering it didn’t even matter that much.

 

“Let’s get you home, Cinder.”

 

* * *

 

A week later, a knock sounded at the door. Cinder was upstairs cleaning, so she could barely hear, let alone see, what was going on downstairs. Pearl ran upstairs and locked Cinder in the room. 

 

Cinder sighed and collapsed on the ground, leaning up against the now-locked door. She heard Pearl run back downstairs, and Cinder strained to hear anything else that was going on downstairs. 

 

“Hello, Mrs. Linh,” Cinder heard an unfamiliar voice say. “We are looking for a young lady. She would be able to wear this shoe.”

 

Cinder rolled her eyes. Probably some lovesick boy trying to find a girl that he saw across the street for two seconds.

 

“Let me try it on!” Pearl’s shrill voice carried up the stairs, and Cinder covered her ears so she wouldn’t have to listen to her sisters, Pearl and Peony, fight each other for whatever shoe they were given to try on.

 

“NO!” Cinder heard a few moments later. Pearl screamed again. “It’s too small!”

 

Cinder heard a similar sentence come from Peony about thirty seconds later. She stood up and looked through the small hole her stepmother, Adri, had made in the door once when she got angry at Cinder. She saw a royal guard holding out a fancy pillow with a familiar shoe sitting on it.

 

“Oh my stars…” Cinder breathed out quietly. She ran across the room to grab her only remaining article of clothing from the ball and started to try to bust open the door. After a few tries she got it open, and then she was running down the steps. She set the shoe at the top of the stairs before, just in case her sisters tried to take it.

 

“I would like to try it on,” Cinder said, trying to make her voice sound confident. 

 

Pearl grabbed the shoe from the pillow and chucked it across the room. She hit the wall and shattered into a million pieces, each little part falling to the ground, making a mess that Cinder was sure to be ordered to clean later. 

 

“She can’t try it on!” Pearl screeched.

 

“I, uh, I have the other shoe…” Cinder trailed off. She gave one look at the guard and ran up the stairs to grab the other shoe. She came back down and sat down on the fancy chair that she was never allowed to sit on and slipped the shoe onto her right foot. 

 

“It fits!” the guard gasped. 

 

* * *

 

Soon, Cinder was taken to the palace, where she was reunited with Prince Kai. They officially greeted each other, and then they were married a week later. It was a grand wedding. Pearl, Peony, and Adri showed up, but Cinder ignored them and they were removed by the royal guards.

 

Plenty of people gushed over Cinder and Kai, telling Cinder that she was so kind for someone who was treated so poorly, telling Kai that they were glad he finally met someone to marry.

 

“I love you, Cinder,” Kai told her when they finally found a moment alone.

 

“I love you, too, Kai,” Cinder said back, rising up on her toes to press a kiss to Kai’s lips. They stayed like that for a little while.

 

And they lived happily ever after.


End file.
